He Found Her
by still too old for this
Summary: It would have been better, far better if one of the other three had found her. They would have kept him from seeing her.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any rights to the Teen Titans or any other characters that may appear in this story.

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He found her.

It would have been better, far better if one of the other three had found her. They would have kept him from seeing her. Seeing the condition she was in. The others would have been hurt, devastated over what happened to her. She was their friend, their dearest friend, their sister, if not in blood then in spirit. It tore at them when they did see what had happened to her. But they would have kept him from seeing her. They knew how it would affect him. What the impact would have been. What the ramifications would be to his mind and sanity.

Unfortunately, he found her.

They had been searching for several days, since she had been captured. How she had been captured was completely unknown to them. Who had captured her was unknown as well. All they knew was that her communicator was found abandoned with blood on it. That's what worried them the most. She was the most powerful of them all, yet oddly enough, the most vulnerable. And so they began the search. All of them had been searching; they had even called in the backups, the honorary members, everyone they could think of to assist in the search. And there was no trace. No clue. Nothing. No sign of where she was, where she had been taken, what happened to her.

And no one searched harder, longer, than he did.

And so he found her.

He had gone without sleeping, without eating, occasionally taking a sip of water when his mouth became too dry. He was everywhere, looking at everything. Using every resource he had within him to continue searching for her. Investigating anything that even might be a clue, a hint, of where she was and who had taken her. His mind moving back and forth between focusing on the hunt and panic over what happened. Not that he showed it.

The others periodically would go back to the Tower and rest, a couple of hours here, a couple there, a quick bite to eat, a short nap, then resuming the search. They split up the search. Sometimes they themselves would go out, leaving one behind to coordinate with the others. Much of the time, they would try, try, to keep up with him. It was difficult. He moved so quickly, never stopping. Despite the exhaustion, the ache in his heart, he continued to search.

Then, on the fourth day, he stopped. The tracking device in his communicator simply stopped in place. At the time, two of the three were out searching. The one left behind, the one most qualified to monitor glanced at the screen and saw that he had not moved for several minutes. This had happened before, and he was reluctant to call the others. Another ten minutes passed and he made a decision.

"Guys, he's stopped."

The response was immediate. "Has he reported in?"

"No. He just stopped."

Silence. "Can you tell if he's still awake? He might have fallen asleep."

The titan monitoring the search paused. He attempted to read the limited data from the communicator. "Umm, it, oh god, it doesn't seem like it. Heart rate is up, respiration is up. You don't think…."

"He found her."

"Please, no. He hasn't called in."

Silence. "Where is he?"

The titan monitoring the search paused. "He's at the old Moorgate factory in the new Industrial section on the North side of Jump. It's been deserted for a couple of years. Shit."

"Yeah, shit."

There was a pause in the conversation. "Meet you there in ten minutes. We'll regroup before we go in."

"Do you really think he's…"

A bone-weariness came over the communicator to the titan monitoring the search, "Yes, he found her. This won't be good. For anyone."

Ten minutes later, the three titans met outside the factory. Although they had been searching for days for their missing partner, they were hesitant to go it. To search is one thing, to actually KNOW, to accept the reality of the situation was another. Then, there was the added heartache of seeing how their friend would be facing his nightmare. With a deep breath, they entered the deserted factory.

It was dark, dusty, dirty. Late afternoon had not helped the situation. The main floor was filled with various debris. What little afternoon light was filtering in the large windows, half of them broken. In the distance, sobbing was heard. The weeping was from the core of the person, there was nothing left, no hope, no light, no life. Just a heart rending crying that no one who had the slightest bit of compassion could not feel sympathy for.

"Could he just be weary? Maybe he hasn't found her…."

"No, he found her." The speaker was ready to break as well. He could hear the heart-ache. The three titans moved closer to the source of the crying. As they moved to the far end of the floor, they saw a figure kneeling down. He was cradling something in his arms. It wasn't moving, but he was rocking back and forth, crying all the while. Calling her name, sobbing to rend the heart.

Garfield Logan had found his beloved Raven, dead.

Robin was tired. While he had slept some, the search had been a drain on him as well. He had half suspected where this would end. His mental connection with Raven had been of no use since this started. Whether it was because she was unconscious or there was nothing left to connect too, he didn't know. But it was mentally and emotionally draining. Still, he had a job to do.

Before the other two could move closer, he held his arms up to halt them. "Guys, hold on a moment. Cy, take pictures of everything, including infra-red and x-ray. Circle around them, give them a good 20 feet. Go especially for the floor, then slowly zoom in on Ra…on the body." He paused and gathered his composure. "Take as many as you can. Starfire, can you fly right now?"

The Tamaranean looked at Robin before answering. "How can you even ask…"

Robin cut her off softly but firmly. "No, just…no." He took a deep breath. "We need evidence. If we're going to catch whoever did this, we need every bit of evidence." He started breathing heavily. "You can't go near them."

Cyborg replied, "Robin, Gar is right there. He's already contaminated everything."

"I know. I have to hope that there may still be something left." Lowering his head, he continued, "Anyway, there's no way on earth I'd ask him to move away, not now." He looked at his friends, "Please," his voice cracked, "Just…do as I ask. Afterwards, we'll….We'll move closer."

In a whisper, Starfire said, "I cannot fly."

Robin let out another deep breath. "That's ok, Star. It was more of a faint hope than a real request. I'd be really surprised if you could." And he grasped her hand with his and shook it in sympathy. "Cy, whenever you feel up to it."

Without speaking, the half-metal titan began to circle the two. Activating all of the telemetry in his mechanical eye, all of the scanners in his arms along all of the available frequencies, he began to record. Moving clockwise, he drifted slowly to the right. As he moved, the view of his former teammate came into sight as he moved around Beast Boy. After a moment, he stopped and put his left hand to his mouth and began to tremble. He turned away from the body. Tears were streaming from his one human eye.

The boy wonder quickly left his girlfriend and moved over to him, "I know it's hard." He took a look at the tableau and paled. "You have to do it. It's ugly, but it needs to be done."

"Do you see what they DID to her? My God, I don't …" He started to tremble again.

"I know." The titan leader looked again at the two. "It's as bad as I've ever seen a body. And I've seen the Joker's work. We still need that evidence."

The two were looking at the wreck of what was once a human being. Bruises covered most of the body. Limbs were arrayed in unnatural ways as various bones had been broken. She was covered in dried blood and, from the smell, various forms of filth. It was obvious she had been beaten to death and the body savaged both before and after. And it had taken a while.

Robin assisted Cyborg in his route around the two titans. Holding onto his shoulder and whispering support.

And all the while, Beast Boy held onto the shattered head and shoulders of Raven, rocking back and forth and weeping.

It took about 15 minutes, since Robin insisted on being thorough. But finally, the two titans were back with Starfire, who had not moved. Cyborg and Starfire looked at Robin.

"One more thing." Robin took out his communicator, opened it and pushed a button for the Jump City Police Department. When a voice was heard on the other end, he said, "We found Raven's body at the old Moorgate factory. We'll need forensics and an ambulance to transport the body." Before giving the person on the other end any chance to reply, Robin closed the communicator.

He inhaled, slowly exhaled and nodded. He began to walk towards the bodies, Starfire and Cyborg right behind.

Beast Boy had stopped howling earlier. Even his weeping was quieter, although it continued. Robin reached his friend and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Gar," he whispered, "I'm so sorry."

At that, both the metal titan and the warrior princess broke down into tears as they kneeled next to their comrades. No one said anything. No one moved. They just stayed there and mourned their friend.

They were there, unmoving, unspeaking for about 10 minutes before the sounds of sirens was heard. After a moment, noises were heard at the door of the main floor and the police entered the building. With guns drawn, they moved towards the titans, shouting order to stand away from the body.

The titan leader had not trained with the Batman for nothing. With an air of authority, he put his hand up, signaling the men to wait for a moment. They stopped short and quieted down. Turning back to his teammates, Robin bent down next to Beast Boy.

"Gar..Gar." There was no response. "Gar, you need to get up now. We have to let the police do their work." The green teen looked up at his friend, confused. Then he looked around and saw the police and his eyes opened wide. He looked back at Robin and shook his head and began to bend over Raven once more.

"No, Gar, I'm sorry, you need to let go of her for the moment. Please, stand up." The green boy shook his head again.

"Gar…." Robin's voice cracked, "you can't stay here, please get up." He leaned over and, putting his left arm under Beast Boy's arm, lifted him up. The teen was not particularly heavy at the best of times, now, after days of going without food and sleep, he was unable to offer any resistance to being lifted up. The boy wonder turned him around. Whatever had covered Raven's body had transferred, somewhat, to Beast Boy. That didn't matter.

Robin pulled him into a hug; Garfield Logan lay his head on the other's shoulder and resumed crying. Cyborg and Starfire both moved in to join in the hug and, together, the three of them slowly moved Beast Boy away from the body of his lost love. When the quartet reached the door, Robin broke away from the others.

"Cy, Star, can you get Gar home? I need to stay here and discuss this with the police."

"Sure Robin," Cyborg answered. "We'll get him back to the Tower and cleaned up."

"If you can, try to get him to bed and let him sleep. He's got to be exhausted after so many days and the stress of finding…" Robin paused, "well, the stress."

"Yes, Robin. I believe we will be able to convince him to rest." Starfire replied.

"Worse comes to worst, I'll give him a sedative." Cyborg said. All the while, Beast Boy just stood there, face dazed, almost half asleep as it was. The tears were still flowing, mingling with the dirt, the sweat and the shadow that had grown over the four days of his search. He looked ready to collapse.

"OK, I'll meet you back at the Tower shortly." Robin moved towards the police officer in charge and the other three left for their home. It took about an hour, but the Titan leader finally addressed all of the questions and issues. He had promised to share all of the footage that Cyborg had taken with the Department and the police in turn had offered to share the results of the autopsy and any forensic evidence they found. Everyone wanted the ones who did this to one of the city's heroes.

Robin took one last look at Raven, at the condition she had been left in and turned away. He left the factory, but instead of turning towards the Tower, he looked around the area. He turned towards his right and began to run down the street. After about 100 feet, he removed his gun from his belt and aimed the grapple hook and line up to the building on the left. It was roughly four stories tall and the grapple hooked onto the railing surrounding the roof. The line lifted him up to the top. The boy wonder leaped over the railing and ran to the center of the roof.

Then Robin sat down and began to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own any rights to the Teen Titans or any other characters that may appear in this story.

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Over the next few days, the Tower was a bizarre combination of activity and lethargy. Robin and Cyborg poured over the pictures and data that he had taken from the factory, searching for any clues as to the person or persons who killed their friend. Surprisingly, the area was extremely clean from any details other than the obvious; it was a run-down, deserted factory.

So they waited for the autopsy report and the forensics report from the police. They, of course, shared what they found from the pictures, what little it was. Otherwise, they searched the net, talked to people, ran down any sort of tip. Anything they could do, anything that was available to avoid the one thing that was really on all of their minds.

Raven's funeral and burial. The actual ceremonies would have to wait for the police to release the body after all of the examinations had been done, but the preparations still needed to be made.

And so, finally, after another four days, Robin made the necessary calls that he was trying to avoid. He spoke with a reputable funeral home and the Jump City Memorial Cemetery. Before meeting with them, the titan leader tried to speak with Beast Boy about the arrangements. After all, they were partners, lovers, companions for more than two years and friends and teammates for years before that. He should be consulted about anything related to Raven.

At least that was the idea. Instead, Robin stood outside Beast Boy's door and tried to get him to answer. Since they had gotten back from the factory, Beast Boy not entered Raven's room; the room where the couple had lived together for the past two years. Instead, he had entered his old, abandoned room and not come out, not spoken. Not even acknowledged the others.

There were signs he was still alive, food disappeared during the night, at times there was crying behind the door. But he would not answer any questions or requests to enter. God alone knew what was going on with him, what condition he was in. The remaining three titans respected the green shapeshifter's mourning. They only wished they could help.

Starfire helped as she could around the tower. She was unable to muster up the 'joy to fly', so her abilities to patrol the city were limited. Still, she provided support, kept the tower clean and supplied meals to the others. Surprisingly, she kept to basics like sandwiches rather than her famous puddings. The sandwiches were good, but a little heavy on the mustard.

Once Robin was convinced he would get no assistance from the near catatonic Beast Boy, he made the decisions as best he could. It would be a closed casket due to the condition of the body. After considerable thought, he decided as well to make it a private viewing and funeral. The last thing that Raven would have wanted would be her precious privacy violated. He also didn't think he and the others could take much public interaction at this time. It was difficult enough maintaining a semblance of action after her loss, trying to do so with hundreds, if not thousands of well-wishers would overwhelm the teens.

To avoid that, the press would not be notified about the arrangements. There was little choice about the obituary. The death of a titan was headline news. So, the headlines were screaming that Raven had been killed by an assailant or assailants unknown. No details were given beyond that. That didn't stop the newspapers and reporters from speculating and guessing. Most of them wrong, some of them close. The actual obituary was simple: Raven died after being assaulted by unknown assailants. She left behind a companion, Garfield Logan (Beast Boy) and dear friends, Victor Stone (Cyborg), Princess Koriand'r (Starfire) and Robin. The funeral services were to be private and closed to the public.

That was the extent of the Obituary. Robin had some difficulty describing her relationship with Gar. Partner didn't do it justice; they weren't married and mate seemed…vulgar. So, finally he settled on companion, even though that seemed inadequate to describe the two of them.

The casket would be simple. There would be a brief funeral. What was there to say? The titans knew who she was, her accomplishments, her love for her 'real' family, her love for Gar and her devotion to doing right. They didn't need to be reminded. A priest was probably not appropriate, but the funeral director would give the eulogy. Robin didn't think he would be able to hold it together to do one and he knew the others, especially Beast Boy, would not be able to speak for more than ten seconds without breaking down.

He chose a secluded gravesite, out of the way of the rest of the other plots in the cemetery, on top of a hill overlooking the bay, with its view of Titan's Tower. Somehow, he thought Raven would appreciate that.

Finally, the police sent Robin the results of the autopsy and the forensics report. It was as bad as he expected and he had no intention of telling the others all of the details. She had been beaten to death, which finally occurred from a skull fracture. There were burns, cuts and broken bones throughout her body.

She had been raped, multiple times, both vaginally and anally, by a number of individuals. Just reading the report sickened the team leader. However, it was the first real clue he had. More than one individual was involved. Eventually, the police would be able to do a DNA test on the various bodily fluids and waste materials that they gathered from the remains, but that would take time. It doesn't happen in five minutes like on TV shows. It could be weeks, perhaps months before it was all sorted out and then, if they were lucky, matches would be made against the national databases to determine who was involved.

Meanwhile, they had a funeral to attend.

In attendance at the funeral home, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg sat together and stared at the closed casket while the director said a few words. None of them really heard what was said. Between the heartbreak the three were undergoing and what happened with Beast Boy, there wasn't much to be said.

For Beast Boy did not attend the funeral. The three had stood outside the locked door to his room for nearly an hour and pleaded with him to come with them. Finally, Robin lost his temper and told him to get out and pay his respects to Raven if he really loved her. That had been an unwise thing to do.

The green changeling had gone completely berserk at that statement. He howled, screamed incoherently, pounded on the other side of the door, threw furniture at the walls and door, creating large dents. At one point, a hole was made in the wall and the remaining titans could see the destruction that statement had caused.

Needless to say, the three had backed up from the door considerably.

Starfire said, "My dear friend, we will not disturb you. We will leave now. I will come back to see you after we return from the funeral." She turned and went back up the hallway, the two boys following her and the howling and screaming slowly fading as they put space between them and their grieving friend.

The gravesite ceremony was also quiet. The traditional Christian burial service didn't seem appropriate, given her heritage. Robin had tried to determine what the Azerathean burial ceremony was, but there was no information that he could gather, so he settled for a Buddhist ceremony. Given her meditative rituals, it seemed as close as they could get. It really didn't matter; none of the three titans really heard the ritual. Cyborg and Starfire were crying and Robin was trying not to, but was consumed by memories of his friend. At least a few tears leaked down his face.

Again, the press, as was their wont, had attempted to interrupt the funeral. While they couldn't get into the funeral home, the cemetery was a public area, so they got as close as they could and took pictures. Most had the decency to be silent during the ceremony. Afterwards, there was some attempt to question the three grieving titans, much of it along the lines of "Where's Beast Boy?" None of the three answered. They weren't about to discuss his private grief and his near madness. Instead, they returned to the sanctuary of Titans Tower.

The three sat together in the common room, Starfire curled up next to Robin, silently crying. Robin was holding onto her and staring straight ahead. Cyborg was on the other side of the couch with his head bent down, silent as well. They sat there for hours as there didn't seem to be much of anything else to do. Finally, silently, Cyborg got up and went to his room to go to bed and recharge. He didn't really need to recharge, but it was the nearest he could get to sleep and he truly craved the ability to turn his mind off at this point.

After a few more minutes, Starfire fell asleep in the teen detective's arms. He sat there for a while, holding her, taking comfort from her closeness, her comfort, her love. Robin could, barely, understand was Beast Boy was going through. If something had happened to Starfire, he knew he'd be a wreck as well. That's one of the many reasons he was trying desperately to be understanding with his young friend and give him as much leeway as possible.

Finally, growing restless, Robin carried Starfire to the room they shared and put her to bed. He wasn't tired, at least not physically tired, emotionally yes, but not mentally and physically. So he returned to the Common Room and, searching for something to do, he began to go through the titan's e-mail.

There were thousands of notices. Robin ran them through a sorting program that Cyborg designed to get rid of the cranks, crackpots, spam and the obscene. That still left hundreds. Focusing on those that were offering condolences for Raven, the boy wonder split those into three sections, those from children (who would need a rather delicate touch), the general letters of sorrow (who would get a thank you) and those who seemed to have some real issues with Raven's death, either because they knew her personally or she had saved their lives. Those he'd have to think about how to answer. Maybe Starfire could give him a hand with those.

As he was working his way through the sorting, the screen filled with static and then the image resumed. This time, rather than a e-mail, the image on the screen was of a rather heavyset man with long red hair tied up in a pony tail. The man was clean shaven and wearing all black. He had a rather sad look on his face.

"Control Freak! I am NOT in the mood for your games today." Robin snarled.

"No," the man responded in a quiet voice, "not Control Freak."

"Huh?"

The image on the screen took in a large breath and let it out again. "Look, my real name is Albert. Just this once, could you call me that?"

"Uhh, ok, Albert." Robin was more than a bit confused at this.

"I just wanted to offer my condolences over what happened to Raven." You could see he was also fighting back tears. "This kind of thing isn't supposed to happen. You don't DO that kind of thing to people."

"You know what happened to Raven?"

Albert nodded, "Yeah, I hacked into the cops' database. I was curious. I didn't think anything could really happen to one of you guys. I mean, come on, we fight, yeah, but no one really gets hurt. I don't even steal anything big, just stuff I'm interested in. I couldn't believe it when I read the reports."

The man on the screen took another breath. "Look, none of this is supposed to be for real. I mean when I fight you guys it's not meant to really hurt you. If I wanted to kill you, I'd transport you into a National Geographic special about volcanoes, or deep sea marine. Or I'd just send you to some outer space movie. You guys are NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE!" And Albert began weeping.

Robin was completely taken aback. Sure, he knew Control Freak didn't even make the D-list of villains, but to hear him upset like this was….weird. "Albert, did you have anything to do with this?" he whispered.

The distraught man shook his head. "No. What was done to poor Raven was horrible. I'm a bad guy, but not a really bad guy. I would have been at the funeral today, but you guys closed it off to the public. Can't blame you really." He paused and gained control over himself, "How's Beast Boy? I know he and Raven were tight."

The titan leader considered momentarily. " _How much to tell him? He's concerned, but he's a bad guy_." Then he mentally chuckled, " _But not a really bad guy_."

"He's really upset as you can probably guess. Pretty much in seclusion. I'm sure it'll take a while for him to pull himself together."

"Not surprised. Hell, everyone in the villain community knew about those two years ago." Albert let out a weak chuckle, "It was so obvious to everyone, Red X was making all sorts of Beauty and the Beast Boy jokes."

"Yeah," Robin answered back with his own chuckle, "I don't know who those two thought they were fooling, other than themselves. From the beginning, those two couldn't stay away from each other. No one took Raven's protests seriously."

From there, the conversation went on to reminiscing about Raven, about Beast Boy, about battles between the titans and Control Freak. It was all good natured, a way to share memories about a person they both knew and cared about. And would miss.

Finally, after about a half hour, the conversation paused. Then Albert said, "Look, I'll leave you to your business. I just wanted to give my condolences for Raven." He paused again, "Uh, look, I…" Again a pause. Robin waited.

Albert shut his eyes and said softly, "This may not be true. Guys in the villain business talk a lot, brag a lot and make all sorts of statements. Most of it is pure bullshit, but just in case….." He took a deep breath, "There's rumors going around that several days before Raven was found, the Five were bragging that they had captured a titan. No details, just that they captured someone. It wasn't until Raven's death was announced that I gave any real thought to it. As I said, it might be all bullshit, most of what those guys say is, but….just in case, I wanted you to know."

Robin's eyes opened slightly wider. This was the closest they had gotten to a lead since Raven disappeared. It even made some sense. Gizmo was a genius, maybe he figured some way to capture Raven and suppress her powers. Thinking further, Kid Wykkyd's teleportation ability would explain how Raven's body had ended up in the abandoned factory with no traces whatsoever of an intruder.

Finally, they were now five guys. Jinx had left and there was no more restraint on a bunch of crooks not known for being remotely decent. Gizmo had a real attitude. Mammoth was brainless at best and crude. Billy Numerous was about as much a low-life as you could ever find. It even made sense from the existing evidence. There were multiple different fluids found with the body. So there had to be at least two or three people, probably more.

The detective answered, "Thanks for the tip, Albert. I'll look into it. If there's any evidence that they WERE involved, I'll leave your name out."

The cleaned up Control Freak let out a big breath, "Thanks Robin. It may turn out to be nothing, like I said, there's a lot of talk, not much of it is true. Still, I want you to get whoever did that to Raven. She didn't deserve it. No one does." With that Albert broke the transmission.

Robin sat there and pondered. The more he considered it, the more it seemed like he had his first real suspects, but no evidence for it at all. And no way to find the suspects until they reappeared. So what to do?

Well, telling the other titans was out. He didn't want three vigilantes on the loose ready to kill five crooks who may not have had anything to do with it. And even if they DID beat, rape and murder Raven, the titans should not kill; he would do anything to keep them from destroying themselves. Even if it meant hiding his suspicions until there was absolute proof.

With that, Robin went to bed and slept the sleep of the emotionally exhausted, holding onto Starfire for comfort, as she held on to him.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own any rights to the Teen Titans or any other characters that may appear in this story.

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Days passed.

Life began to resume its normal routine, at least for some of the titans.

It took a while, but Starfire was able to find the 'joy of flight' again, although it was sporadic. Cyborg's appetite was noticeably reduced. He would stare off into space for a time, then begin moving again. Robin, as was his wont, threw himself into his work, trying to track down any possible leads, keeping an eye and an ear out for the Five. He didn't limit his suspects to them. After all, it was only a rumor. A good investigation didn't focus on just one suspect unless there was a high degree of certainty of who the primary suspect should be. Rumors didn't really count.

And he waited for the results of the DNA testing. The problem was, there really were no other suspects; the existing evidence was almost non-existent. And so he worked the few possible leads and waited.

No one really knew what was going on with Beast Boy. He continued to remain in his room. Several times a day, each of the others would stop by the room, sometimes they just listened, sometimes they tried to speak with him, always unsuccessfully.

Always each one would look in the hole that had been made in the wall the day of Raven's funeral, just so they could try to get a glimpse of their suffering friend, all the while wishing there were something they could do to ease his pain.

Like the other two, Robin would take a look through the hole during his periodic visits to Beast Boy during the day. He would always try to talk to him, never with any response. Often he heard crying, but never any words. While peering into the room, he would see the green hero just sitting on the floor, staring straight ahead, sometimes he'd be standing in front of the window staring out. Occasionally, Gar would be lying on the top bunk of his bed, to all the world asleep.

Robin hoped he really was asleep at those times. He worried deeply about his young friend, but had no way to help. One reason why he never had Cyborg fix the hole in the wall. It seemed to be their only means of contacting their lost teammate.

And so, days passed.

Despite it all, the duties of the titans did not diminish. There were still bank robberies, severe traffic accidents where people needed to be flown to the hospital, fires and the occasional villain (Ding Dong Daddy). When the alarm went off, the titans met in the common room in front of the operations screen, sized up the situation and went on their mission.

At least three of the titans did.

Beast Boy remained in seclusion.

Fortunately, all of the missions were such that Beast Boy's absence was not detrimental. Even the fight with Ding Dong Daddy was eventually won. Oh, it was far more difficult and took longer than anyone would have expected, but being down to three titans meant some adjustments in tactics. And no one said anything when Beast Boy did not appear. They didn't have to. They only hoped that at some point Beast Boy would be able to rouse himself to normality and be able to join them on a mission.

It was eight days after Raven's funeral that the alarm went off and Robin's hopes and fears were ready to be addressed. When the titan leader went to the operations board, he found that there was a sighting of the Hive Five in downtown Jump City, in the jewelry district. At last he would be able to get his questions answered. Rather than let his teammates in on his suspicions, he treated this like a normal occurrence.

"Titans, it's the Five, they're robbing the jewelry district."

Cyborg spoke up at that point, "Three against five, this might be a little rough, do we call in for help?"

Before Robin could answer, a voice, raspy from disuse, was heard behind them.

"I'm in."

Turning around, the three titans saw their grieving friend. He looked tired, even thinner than before, scruffy with a bit of an unshaven beard. Worst of all, his eyes looked dead, there was no particular life in them, no real interest in anything.

Starfire leaped to hug him, "Friend Beast Boy! You are back! We have missed you greatly!"

Cyborg rushed over to join the hug. "GRASS STAIN! YOU'RE BACK!"

The final member of the remaining titans, however, felt a icy chill down the back of his spine, a premonition that something wasn't right. _"Why now? Why when the Five are part of the call? He looks terrible. I'm not sure he's really ready for a mission. AND WHY NOW?"_

He walked over to the others and put his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "Glad you're back, Gar. How you feeling?" The green shape shifter looked at Robin and just stared, as if to say, "How do you think I'm feeling? I just lost the love of my life."

Yet he said nothing.

Robin continued, "Look, I'm thrilled you're out and starting to join us again. But maybe you should sit this one out too. The Five can be tough and you've suffered a major shock. I wouldn't want you to be thrown into the fire before you're fully recovered."

Beast Boy just shook his head no. Both Cyborg and Starfire leaped to their friend's defense, protesting that this would be good for him and the action is just what he'd need.

Reluctantly, Robin nodded his agreement. _"What else can I do? I can't MAKE him stay behind. If he follows us, there's no way to stop him. It's just I wish I knew what he's thinking. Did he overhear Albert? Did his senses pick up something none of us could? Is he going after the Five without any proof? Or is this just a coincidence and I'm making more out of it than it seems? Damn. There's no answer."_

"Guys, just because I said BB can go DOESN'T mean it's without restrictions." The metal titan and the warrior princess just looked at him stunned. Beast Boy continued to look at him without emotion.

"Look, he can't fly ahead of us; he needs to stay WITH us. Cy, you take him in the T-Car. He may still be weak after everything that's happened. No point in getting him back to lose him again due to exhaustion." Robin smiled at his friend, "I've missed you and I don't intend to let anything happen to you."

The changeling had an odd look on his face and his mouth twitched. He appeared to be trying to smile, but couldn't manage it. Finally, he nodded and shut his eyes. He seemed exhausted beyond measure. Robin let out a sigh.

"OK Titans, go!"

Xxxxxxxxxx

The jewelry district was in one of the older sections of the city. Inhabited by stores that had long established names and reputations, it did not have the huge skyscrapers of the main business center, but instead smaller four and five story buildings from the early part of the 20th Century. The architecture was a marvel and it was considered one of the main sites of interest if you were visiting Jump City, at least if you were interested in architecture and the lush ambiance of a long bygone era.

The jewelry that was on display in the various windows was almost as good as a museum and the security was just as good as well. You didn't see this in most cities, but then again, most cities didn't have the Teen Titans to protect the people and property.

The Hive Five were spread out across the area, each one was targeting a store and a window, a rather high tech smash and grab. None were very far from each other; Gizmo and Mammoth were on the left side of the street, at adjacent stores, on the opposite side were Billy Numerous, See-More and Kid Wykkyd, again at adjacent stores.

When the titans arrived, they landed in the middle of the street, facing the five. Robin in the center, Beast Boy next to him on his right, Starfire next to him and Cyborg on Robin's left.

There was no banter from the titan leader; no one was in the mood. "Five, give it up now and let's end this without trouble." As Robin looked to his right at Beast Boy, he could see the teen inhale deeply and hold it. Then his eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened. Robin thought, " _Uh-oh_ ".

The titans had expected Gizmo, the nominal leader of the five to answer, but before he could say a word, Billy Numerous shouted out, "Hey, let's do the redhead this time, she oughta be good."

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Beast Boy had not heard this statement. Once his mouth tightened, before Billy began speaking, he had already changed to a hawk. But Robin and the others heard the southern villain, Robin had his confirmation and the other two looked confused, then glanced at Robin.

The teen detective, on the other hand looked at the spot where Beast Boy had been. His first thought was "Shit!" Quickly glancing, he picked up the green hawk as it sped towards Kid Wykkyd. It seemed to pause for a half second and Robin had to search his subliminal memory to see what happened. Kid Wykkyd let out a scream and fell to the ground, holding his eyes. Meanwhile the hawk raced at top speed towards Mammoth.

" _What was that, almost looked like he changed in mid-flight. SNAKE, that's what I'm thinking of."_ Robin looked at Kid Wykkyd, " _Cobra, he changed to a spitting cobra and put down the teleporter_." He let out a mental breath, " _OK, he's playing rough, but not being excessive._ "

Meanwhile, less than 5 seconds after changing, and just as Billy Numerous finished his statement, a green Tyrannosaurus Rex grabbed Mammoth in its mouth and lifted. With a small flip, the brute of the five was lodged in the back teeth of the giant lizard and the transformed Beast Boy began to clamp. Mammoth was grunting as he gripped the jaw and tried to pull it apart with his inhuman strength.

Then all present there heard something that chilled them, both the Titans and the Hive Five. Mammoth started screaming.

You see, the Tyrannosaurus Rex had the strongest jaws of any land animal that ever lived. Scientists estimate that the muscles in the jaw actually got stronger as the creature aged until a full grown adult T-Rex could put 12,800 pounds of force behind its razor sharp teeth. Barring true invulnerability, such as Superman's, very little can withstand it.

To the shock and horror of the assembled crowd, Mammoth fell from the jaws of the giant dinosaur.

At least, the top half of him did.

The bottom half was promptly spit out of Beast Boy's mouth.

"GAR! NO!" shouted Robin, horrified at the turn of events. Cyborg was stunned. Between Billy Numerous' enigmatic shout and his best friend's sudden madness, he was completely confused.

Starfire, on the other hand, was not particularly upset by what happened to Mammoth, given the Tameranean culture, but she was confused by Billy Numerous, "Robin, what did Billy mean by 'this time'?"

Before the Boy Wonder could answer, the T-Rex had disappeared, to be replaced by a falcon (peregrine, if you are curious) that was winging as fast as it could back across the street towards See-More, who was stunned into immobility. The peregrine falcon, in a power dive, can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour. So, at 120 miles per hour, it goes one mile in 30 seconds, one half mile in 15 seconds, one quarter mile (1300 feet) in 7 seconds. It crossed the street in less than three seconds.

Where, just before reaching the visual villain, the falcon disappeared, to be replaced by a swordfish, with the sword aimed at See-More's heart.

Force equals mass times acceleration. The falcon was accelerating, only to suddenly gain mass, but the acceleration remained. The point of the swordfish's nose went right through the black teen and kept going, only to reemerge as a falcon once again. This time covered in blood and various organs.

Less than ten seconds had passed since Billy Numerous had made his statement, roughly ten to eleven seconds since Beast Boy's mouth tightened after recognizing the Five's scent from Raven's body. The assembled combatants were still trying to catch up to the speedily occurring events. Save one.

Robin was tracking the grief mad shape shifter as best he could, but with no way to predict his next target, his next choice of transformation, there was little he could do. He couldn't throw a smoke bomb, that would only help the changeling. He needed to know where to throw a birdarang to even attempt to stop him, if Gar would only stay still for even a second, he might have a slim chance.

All the while thinking this, he answered Starfire, "They're the ones who killed Raven; Billy wanted you next." The Tameranean looked stunned at first, then angry.

Billy Numerous was looking around stunned, in the brief seconds since he spoke, he'd seen three of his teammates drop, almost without warning. He didn't have a moment to even consider splitting. While he was focusing on his fellow hivers, he didn't see the green falcon speeding towards him.

For Beast Boy had not even paused after emerging from See-More's body as a falcon. With his speed hardly diminished after going through the hiver's body, he banked to the left and made straight for Billy Numerous. In the ten to twelve seconds since he made his statement, events had outpaced his ability to keep up, he'd seen three of this compatriots fall in seconds and was stunned. In the two seconds that it took for Beast Boy to fly from See-More to Billy, he had two choices. He could split and reduce the chances of being caught, or he could inhale.

He inhaled.

That was a mistake.

Just before the changeling reached Billy, he morphed into a microscopic organism and was inhaled into Billy's lungs. Once in the left lung, Beast Boy immediately changed into a Flower Urchin. This type of sea urchin grows to about eight inches, effectively shredding the lung. This was not necessarily the only problem. It is also high venomous. And the pain from the venom is felt immediately.

Billy Numerous clutched at his chest, unable to breathe and feeling the pain from hundreds, if not thousands of stings that immediately entered his blood system through the capillaries in the lungs, all making its way to his heart. Within a second he was on the ground writhing in pain, unable to split.

He didn't really have to worry, if he still could, about the venom reaching his heart. The green teen was about to take care of that. One more second passed and a wolverine, with its razor sharp claws and teeth burst out of the southern villain's chest, the heart speared on a claw.

With a small leap, the wolverine exited the body and landed on the pavement. At that point, Beast Boy resumed his normal shape and dropped the heart.

Eighteen seconds had passed. In that time, four members of the Hive Five were on the ground dying. At that point, the shape shifter walked over to where Kid Wykkyd lay rolling in street, clutching his eyes from the venom Beast Boy had shot at him in the beginning. Gar reached over to his head and wrenched it around, breaking his neck and killing him.

"You mean these Klorbags killed RAVEN?" shouted Starfire.

Cyborg stopped trying to look at the speeding titan and turned to Robin. "You KNEW this! And you didn't TELL US?"

Robin was trying to keep an eye on whatever green animal was appearing, but with the other two districting him, it was difficult. He saw the falcon zip towards Billy and a second later Billy collapse.

"I didn't know. I only had a rumor, there was no proof."

"That was good enough for me!" shouted Cyborg.

"And me!" chimed Starfire.

Meanwhile, Robin was finally able to pick up Beast Boy as he walked deliberately towards Kid Wykkyd. "Guys," the leader said as he began to run towards the maddened teen. "WE DON'T KILL!"

"We SHOULD!" shouted the metal titan.

Turning around to face Victor Stone, he shouted back, "THEN WE ARE NO MORE THAN ANOTHER STREET GANG! Killing for vengeance, to get even, is what gangs of thugs do. We uphold justice. Which means we let authority take the lead on punishment! If we decide who should live and die, regardless of proof, regardless of the law, then WE ARE THUGS!"

"And I won't be a thug."

"And I won't let the Titans turn into a pack of thugs."

Then he turned to Beast Boy, who after finishing with Kid Wykkyd, had begun moving towards Gizmo, the remaining member. "Gar, stop. Please." You could hear the pleading in the titan leader's voice. He didn't want to have to fight his friend.

Meanwhile, while all of this was happening, Gizmo was staring, shocked at the turn of events. In less than 20 seconds he'd seen all of his friends torn apart or killed. There was no attitude, no bravado in him. That had all collapsed as he saw the retribution that Beast Boy was meriting out. Now, there was simply a desperate fear for his life. He raced over the where Robin and the others were arguing, gibbering, beginning for his life. He had reached them by the time Robin asked Beast Boy to stop.

The green shape shifter looked at Robin, his eyes continued to be dead, just as they had before. Then he vanished again. A small green bee appeared and aimed straight for the small bald boy who had led the Hive Five gang.

When his distraught friend disappeared in front of him, Robin quickly turned around and shouted to the other two titans, "Quick, protect Gizmo!"

At that point two things happened in quick succession. First, Cyborg replied, "You've got to be kidding," and then he and Starfire both looked at Gizmo.

Consequently, all three titans were facing the bald villain when Beast Boy struck, too quickly for anyone to stop. They all missed the first change, even Robin.

For Beast Boy had landed on his head and changed into a very small spider, a brown recluse spider. He bit the leader of the Hive Five and kept his fangs in the wound. At about 7 millimeters long, he could barely be seen, barely felt, but he poured venom into the wound. After a moment, without withdrawing his fangs, he switched to a black widow spider, about 2.5 centimeters long. The venom also entered the wound, which because of the change had begun to tear open the skin on his skull.

A moment later, he morphed to a Brazilian Wandering Spider, the world's most venomous, his fangs still in the wound, still pouring venom into Gizmo's body. At approximately 17 centimeters, the skin was starting to tear considerably. Still keeping his fangs in, Beast Boys shifted to a blue ringed octopus, at about seven inches long, one of the world's most venomous creatures. And he continued to pour venom into Gizmo.

By now, the wounds were several centimeters long and Gizmo was beginning to feel the bites and reached for his skull to tear off whatever was on him. Then the changeling became a Tiger Snake and continued to sink his fangs into the bald boy's skull, but now, he wrapped his tail around the villain's neck so he could not be dislodged. And he continued to pour venom into his foe. A moment later, he shifted to an Inland Taipan Snake, the world's most venomous. He kept his tail around the boy's neck to maintain a grip.

By now, Robin and the others saw the lightning fast shifts in animals on top of Gizmo's head and began to move towards him to help. At least Robin was, the other two too startled to move.

However, the green teen's final transformation caught everyone off guard. No spider, no snake, instead a small frog sat in the wound for several moments. There was no way to tell, since all of Beast Boy's transformations left him green, but if he had taken the creature's normal coloring, he would be a brilliant golden color, a golden dart frog. Just sitting there transferred the toxins from his skin into the wound. In doing so, he transferred one milligram of poison into Gizmo.

This is enough to kill two African bull elephants.

By now, Robin was ready to reach for the frog sitting on top of the Hive Five leader. Before he could do so, Beast Boy hopped off of the boy's skull and resumed his normal appearance. The teen detective turned towards Starfire, shouting,

"Starfire, get him to a hospital now! There's still a chance we can get the antidotes into him. Tell them that he'll need spider and snake antivenom, probably frog and octopus as well. GO!"

Used to taking the boy wonder's orders, even though she wasn't feeling particularly generous towards Gizmo, she picked him up and began the trip to the nearest hospital.

Meanwhile, Cyborg turned to the other members of the gang, "And what about them?"

Robin stared around, Kid Wykkyd was already dead, Mammoth was in two pieces shaking in his final death throes, See-More was already dead from the shock and Billy Numerous was dead as well. He slumped his shoulders.

"Nothing we can do. They're all dead and there's no way to help Mammoth in time."

Just over a minute had passed since Beast Boy had vanished while Billy Numerous was speaking.

Robin turned towards his green friend, who stood before them.

Beast Boy stood before them. His eyes still dead, his body covered in blood and offal from being inside various bonds. He looked exhausted, as if this rampage of death and destruction had used up every last bit of energy he had left, and he had little left when they started.

Robin felt tired. Several weeks of strain, of emotional carnage culminating in this battlefield of death drained him as well. Still, he had a duty, and an obligation to his friend.

"Gar, please." He stopped, then started again. "Please surrender. I don't want to have to fight you. I don't want to hurt you, not even after all of this. We can get you help, but you must surrender. Please Gar, don't go any further."

He looked into Beast Boy's eyes, waiting for an answer.


	4. Chapter 4

Garfield Logan stared at his friend, his team leader. His eyes continued to be lifeless, just staring. Then, slowly, he shook his head no.

"Gar, we can get you help. You're not a criminal, no matter what happened here. But you need to come with us quietly. Please." The empathy conveyed by Robin's voice was almost overwhelming.

Yet, one final time, Beast Boy shook his head no. He turned and began running towards the sidewalk. As he ran, he morphed into a rat and made for the sewer grate. Robin began to run after him, pulling out his communicator.

"B B BETA, Wally NOW!" He shouted into the phone.

Whatever the titan leader expected to happen, didn't. The green rat was almost at the grate when he shouted again, this time to Cyborg, "CY! Over here!" The metal titan was running towards the grate as well.

The three arrived at roughly the same time, Beast Boy dove into the grate.

"Cy, get that grate out of here, NOW!" Cyborg lifted the grate and flung it away from them. As he was doing so, Robin took out a gas pellet and threw it into the sewer. "Cover your mouth!" Both teens covered their mouths and turned away from the open sewer. After a moment, the smoke cleared.

"OK Cy, look down, do you see anything on infrared? Any trace of Beast Boy?"

The half metal titan looked down, scanning. "No, nothing. At least nothing Beast Boy sized. And he would have changed back if he was unconscious."

"DAMN! That was our last chance." Robin hung his head.

At that moment, Kid Flash appeared next to him and Cyborg. "Hi guys, you called? Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, I was in the middle of a battle, came as soon as I could."

The titan leader had his head in his hands, thinking. "Thanks Wally. It's ok, I hoped you could get here sooner, but I appreciate you coming. I'm going to need your help and the twins. Where are they?"

"Hey, Mas & Menos are a bit slower than I am and they had further to come." Kid Flash looked around, "I take it Beast Boy got away."

"Yeah." The three were silent for a moment. Robin continued, "OK, we're going to have to coordinate another search, this time for BB. We'd better get back to the Tower. KF, can you get me and Cy back ASAP?"

"Sure, no problem."

"What about my BABY?! You can't leave it here," interjected Cyborg.

"WILL YOU FORGET ABOUT THAT DAMN CAR!" yelled Robin. "We've got to find Gar and fast." He was finally losing patience, the events of the past ten minutes since hearing the Hive Five had been sighted were finally catching up with him.

"ok, ok" muttered Cyborg.

At that, Kid Flash grabbed both of his fellow titans and began the trip back to Titans Tower.

If we were to go back about a minute ago, before Kid Flash had arrived, before Robin and Cyborg looked into the open sewer, if we were to go back to when Robin yelled at Cyborg to get rid of the sewer grate, we would have noticed a small event take place.

If only Robin had not been focused on the sewer itself and throwing the gas grenade down, he might have noticed that on the grate that was currently flying away from the scene, there was a small green spider clinging to the side. While the grate was still in mid air, the spider changed into a hummingbird and began to fly away. After about 100 yards, it changed into a hawk and disappeared into the distance.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

About twenty minutes later, Robin and Cyborg were at the monitor in the Common Room at the Tower. First thing was to see if they could track Beast Boy's communicator. That was difficult while he was morphed since the communicator apparently transformed along with his uniform, making it untraceable. But they had to hope he changed back at some point and wasn't still hiding underground.

Mas and Menos had appeared about five minutes after the others. Robin immediately set the three speedsters to search various portions of the city. Mas & Menos were to look in the city parks, Kid Flash was to search a number of stores and eateries that Raven and Beast Boy were known to have frequented.

While they waited for updates, Cyborg had a thought. "Hey, how did Flash and the twins know to come here anyway? What was it you yelled into your communicator?"

"BB Beta. That's the backup plan for capturing Beast Boy. The idea is that Kid Flash and the other Titan speedsters would get here and knock BB out before he had a chance to morph. Obviously, it didn't work because they weren't able to come here immediately. So I had to go with BB Gamma, my third option, a gas attack while he could still breathe air and hope it knocked him out. That didn't work either." Robin resumed scanning for the missing titan.

"What happened to BB Alpha? I assume there is one since you wouldn't just jump to Beta."

Robin didn't answer for a moment. "Raven's dead."

"I know. So?"

"She was supposed to contain him in an energy bubble so he couldn't escape either microscopically or by breaking the bubble." He replied quietly. "If I had another energy manipulator, or a magician, I'd have them replace Raven, but we don't. Yet."

"Sheesh, you make grass stain sound dangerous. Come on, he's not that tough. I beat him, or at least his negative image that Trigon made."

"Never underestimate Gar. You beat a replica that was created to mimic BB, it didn't have his brains, only his abilities during a time of crisis. And you surprised him before he could shift targets."

"You weren't even there. I think you're blowing this out of proportion again. Yeah, he killed the Five, but they're not usually a problem. And what's this about grass stain's brains." Cyborg let out a bit of a chuckle. "Look, I'm his best friend and I love him. But he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He even said he doesn't use them much."

The titan leader swung around in his chair and looked at his metal friend. "Are you trying to tell me you actually BOUGHT that act of his?" He looked stunned. "Forget about the massacre we just saw, are you saying that RAVEN would be attracted to the kind of dope he pretended to be?"

"No, I'm not saying she would be attracted to a dope. I'm saying he's an incredibly sweet guy, kind, occasionally funny and one of the nicest guys you'll ever see. Given her personality, she'd be attracted to someone like that. But he's not necessarily sharp."

Robin put his right hand over his face. "I'm going to have to rethink my opinion of your abilities if you believe that."

He continued, "Look, Gar's parents were both geniuses, biological geneticists who were at the top of their field. Do you think MAYBE their son would inherit at least some of their brains?"

"Weeellll"

"Look at how he's stayed alive over the years. Between the time before the Doom Patrol, then DURING the Doom Patrol, no one who is stupid could have survived all of that. He had to have incredibly sharp wits to survive."

"He had a team to help him."

Robin let out another breathe, "What about with us? He was able to save you by turning into a self replicating microscopic organism."

"He even said he was dumb enough to try anything."

"Again, a cover for his abilities, if you noticed, all of his intellect comes out when he's on his own. He beat the Slade-bot by himself, and those things give us a miserable time. He figured out how to take out the Brotherhood when we all incapacitated. He set up the rescue of the Doom Patrol. From what Mento said, he even set up the method for them to get into the Brotherhood's headquarters."

"Weelll!"

"Oh, and while we're at it with that one, do you remember that HE reprogrammed their computer in seconds? You would have had to plug into their system and it would have taken me a while to figure it out. He was able to access it with no trouble."

Cyborg's human eye opened wide, "Yeah, but, he always said….Look, he knows nothing about history, about literature, about…anything. When I had him put me back together on that planet, he didn't know the names of anything!"

Robin smirked, "There's a big difference between being stupid and being uneducated. Sure he doesn't know the basic facts that come out of books, he never went to school. Never had time or opportunity, but that doesn't make him stupid. Look at how his was able to beat Control Freak by remembering EVERYTHING about television shows he had seen."

"Oh, and let's add one more little bit of evidence to the pile. We all like to play videos games, right? You have a computer memory. I have the training that was given to me by the Batman for observation, memory recall and reflexes."

"How come he can keep up with us on these games, always give us a good challenge and on occasion, beat either one of us? Especially if he were as dumb as he claims?"

"No, he's brilliant, both intellectually and as an actor. This is just a long built cover to gain an advantage. The more people underestimate him, the better off he is."

"Why that little dirtbag! And I FELL for it?"

Robin chuckled, "Don't beat yourself up TOO much, the first couple years I fell for it too, until after the Doom Patrol adventure. Then I sat down and applied the reasoning skills Batman drilled into me and started putting everything together."

"So how come you didn't beat the crap out of him?"

"Because a, he's my friend, b, I developed a good deal of admiration for him as a result and c, I wasn't sure I would win. We're sparring partners and he's pretty good on his own just using martial arts. If he let loose with his powers, he might very well beat me. You remember that as the Beast he almost took all three of us out. That was just using his instincts. With his intelligence in use, that would be a whole 'nother story."

"I mean, just look at what he did to the Hive. In about a minute he took down the entire gang in a precision strike. He went after the teleporter first, always the most dangerous one, then the muscle. Then he took down the last remaining one who could strike from a distance. Billy Numerous he attacked from the inside. That way he couldn't split and overwhelm him. Then he actually took his time to get the leader, but the only one without powers. No, he spent his time while waiting for the Hive to reappear to plan this takeout and executed it with lightning speed."

"No, Garfield Logan is highly intelligent and extremely dangerous. And now incapacitated by his grief for Raven, we don't know exactly what he'll do next. We've got to find him."

"Well, it's nice to know you are taking this with the seriousness it warrants," a female voice replied behind the two.

"I was wondering when you would show up, I'd hoped it would be later rather than sooner." The teen detective's shoulders slumped and he (and Cyborg) turned around. There, at the entrance to the Common Room, stood Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman. "I figured the Justice League would have to get involved, but I'd hoped it would be later, after we caught Beast Boy."

"And how long have you been listening in, may I ask?" Robin continued.

"BB Gamma," Batman responded. "By the way, that was a series of well thought out responses. And before you ask, no GL isn't with us, useful though he would be. He's on a mission for OA."

"Zatanna?"

"On another mission."

"Damn, nothing is going right today. That was the one good thing I had hoped from you getting involved." Robin was ready to continue when Kid Flash called in to the Control Room.

"Robin, I've checked all of the areas you suggested, no go. Want me to help the twins?"

The titan leader replied, "No, I've got two more places to look. The twins can handle the search in the parks, which was kind a long shot anyway. Go to Raven's grave and see if he's there. If not, head for the tower and swing by that rock he likes to sit on. Then meet us here."

Superman resumed the conversation, "Once we got word that a titan had murdered four of the Hive Five.."

"I am sorry Mr. Superman, it is now all five. Gizmo has died as well." Starfire interrupted the man of steel as she flew into the room. "Robin, when I brought Gizmo to the emergency room at Jump City General, he began to go into convulsions. There was little the doctors there could do. He finally died about ten minutes ago."

Batman interrupted, "I take it Beast Boy poisoned Gizmo? In looking at the recording, we could only see that he changed forms, the picture wasn't clear enough for precise identification."

His protégé replied, "I could make out at least one spider, two snakes, what I believe may have been a blue ring octopus and a frog. Probably one of the poison dart species. All of them incredibly deadly."

"And why could you not tell the species?" questioned Wonder Woman with a bit of contempt, "You are the Batman's apprentice."

"BECAUSE Wonder Woman," Robin answered back with an understandable attitude, "All of Beast Boy's transformations are GREEN. You can usually only get the specific genus and species from the coloration of an insect or creature. Without that key identifying feature, they could be anything." The titan leader had a disgusted look on his face, "Now, either help us locate Beast Boy or get out of the tower. We're somewhat busy at the moment."

'Let's all calm down, shall we?" Interrupted Superman before the argument could expand. "We're here to assist since a Titan becoming a murderer is of concern to all in the hero community. I know that he's been under a great deal of stress due to Raven's death, but that is never a reason for murder."

"I agree," answered Robin, "and so do the others ('reluctantly' muttered Cyborg), so we've got to find him ASAP." In a softer voice, he continued, "By the way, thank you for the flowers for Raven's funeral. They were very nice and meant a lot to us."

The three Leaguers all nodded.

During that moment of silence that seemed to drag on, as each person there thought about the death of Raven, Kid Flash suddenly appeared.

"Hey Robin, no luck on BB, but I did find these on Raven's headstone," and he handed over a Titan's communicator and a small purple box. Robin put the box down first and examined the communicator.

"Yeah, it's BB's." He opened up the back, "And he disabled the monitoring core so the main computer couldn't track him." He lifted up another plate, "AND he removed the private tracking signal that I installed as a back up."

"You installed a private backup?" Cyborg asked.

"Sure, what if we needed to track you and you'd disabled the main monitoring core? You built these things." Cyborg looked a little sheepish.

Then he spoke as well, "Uhh, next to the transchronic capacitor, check to see if there's a small green light."

"OK" Robin searched, "Nope, nothing there. Why?"

"That's MY private tracker in the event YOU disappear after disabling the monitoring core and we need to find you." Robin nodded acknowledgement. "So, he disabled all THREE?"

"Nice to see you have a proper system of monitoring, but Beast Boy seems to have circumvented all of it." Batman interjected, "As you said earlier, don't underestimate his abilities."

Robin nodded; he then picked up the small box and opened it. The teen then slumped back in his seat and put his left hand over his eyes and began rubbing them.

"What is it?" the metal titan asked.

This time it was Superman who answered, "Engagement ring. Nice one too. There's an inscription. 'Love Forever, Gar'."

"Terrific," answered Cyborg, "Well, we knew they were devoted to each other, especially Gar, so I guess it's not a surprise."

"Since all the leads here have petered out, it's time to revert to old-fashioned detective work," the Batman's voice interrupted the mood. "Where's his room so we can investigate to see if he left any ideas regarding his further intentions."

"We sealed up his and Raven's room after her death," there was a start by the three Leaguers to hear that the two teens were living together, "Oh stop that, they were over eighteen and in love. He was going to marry her. Of course they were sharing a room." Robin let out a snort of disgust and continued. "Anyway, after we found Raven's body, Beast Boy went back to his old room and wouldn't come out, at least not until today. Anything that would give us a clue is most likely in there." He got out of the chair, "Cy, why don't you stay here and man the monitor, just in case the twins or someone else sees him. Kid, help yourself to the food, we'll probably need you shortly. Star, you want to come with us?"

"Certainly Robin, if I may."

For the first time that day, Robin smiled a real smile. "Always."

"Ahhh, young love," said Superman, nudging the Batman with his elbow.

"Don't make me hurt you."

Wonder Woman let out a chuckle as the boy wonder turned into the beet red boy wonder and led the assembled heroes to the elevator and the floor where the living quarters were.

Upon arriving at Beast Boy's room, Batman raised an eyebrow at the hole in the wall next to the sliding door. Robin answered the unspoken question, "We had some problems with BB when we tried to convince him to go to the funeral."

When they entered the room, it was spotless.

"Well, it appears your teammate is extremely neat," commented Wonder Woman. "I'm actually rather surprised."

"So am I Ms. Wonder Woman. Beast Boy's room was not like this yesterday. The room was still a wreck from the day of the funeral, although he did clean it up some so that it was livable."

"Actually Starfire, I suspect that the limited view you and your friends saw was a probably not the reality. There's really no way your Beast Boy would have been able to clean the entirety of the room in such a short time once he was aware that the Hive Five had been spotted. Probably everything was ready to be finished at a moment's notice." The Batman replied. "Which is unfortunate for us in that there seem to be limited signs of his plans and purposes left, still we'll examine the available evidence."

The Batman and Robin went right to work looking through the room. The first thing that was found were the three communicator parts that had been left on the bed.

"As we suspected," Robin muttered. "He knew just what to look for."

After about half an hour of going through drawers and closets, it became obvious that there was little to actually examine that would give the heroes a direction to search.

"Very well," The Dark Knight began, "since this turned into another dead end, the last area to examine would be the room Raven and Beast Boy shared. It appears that most of his personal belongings and papers are there. There may be some clue as to various places he might go to go into hiding."

The assembled titans and Leaguers left the room and moved down the corridor towards Raven's room.

"We've kept the room locked. Not out of trying to preserve it," began Robin as he started working the keypad to release the locks and open the door. "But no one had the desire to go in here and s…"

The door opened.

"SHIT!" yelled Robin.

Starfire immediately broke down into tears. The Leaguers turned away from the door.

"DAMMIT GAR!" shouted Robin, falling to his knees, "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU COME TO US FOR HELP?!"

But the cold, green body hanging from a noose didn't answer.


End file.
